The San Jose Police Department has become the first Bay Area law enforcement agency to buy a drone, department officials confirmed, but it hasn't yet been deployed and guidelines for its use have not been developed.

The department acquired the aircraft in January for just under $7,000 in federal grant money in hopes that it can assist bomb squad technicians in assessing threats, said Officer Albert Morales, a police spokesman.

Because the Century NEO 660 V2 hexacopter was purchased with grant money, Morales said, the drone will be available to 13 other bomb squads around the Bay Area, including in San Francisco and Oakland.

San Jose police have kept the purchase under wraps, but a records request by Vice's Motherboard and MuckRock made it public this week after officials initially denied the claims.

Law enforcement drones are a sensitive issue, having long been opposed by civil rights activists concerned about the aircrafts' potential to lead to unwarranted searches and unauthorized surveillance.

"Once you get a tool, if there aren't strong safeguards in place, it's just ripe for abuse," said Nicole Ozer, an attorney who heads the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Civil Liberties Project.

The opposition has been forceful enough to prevent other local agencies, such as the Sheriff's Offices in Alameda and San Mateo counties, from acquiring drones. San Francisco police's recent bid for an unmanned aircraft also failed.

Seattle drone to L.A.

Opposition to Seattle police's two grant-funded drones led that department to gift them to Los Angeles - where police officials in turn gave them back to the Department of Homeland Security to hold until the agency establishes a policy for use.

Morales acknowledged the outcry against law enforcement-owned drones, but said the one ordered by San Jose is just a "tool" that will be used by bomb squad personnel to keep them and others safe.

"Our standard answer is that it's a tool - it's a tool that we're going to use," Morales said. "If it saves the life of a bomb technician that's out there doing a bomb assessment, and he can utilize it to get to a position that he usually won't be able to, then it's worth it."

Bomb robots costlier

In a grant application for the drone, San Jose bomb squad Sgt. Douglas Wedge said a drone costs 95 percent less than the bomb robots in use by most squads, and would require "virtually no down time in training."

The San Jose bomb squad responded to 86 incidents from fiscal year 2013 to 2014, Morales said. The squad consists of one sergeant and one full-time officer, as well as five patrol officers who respond to incidents as needed, he said.

Though Morales said the drone will be used only by the bomb squad, the police department is still in the process of drafting its policies.

The department also has not applied for approval to fly the drone from the Federal Aviation Administration. Morales said he could not say when the department guidelines will be completed, or when the FAA application will be submitted.

That's problematic, according to the ACLU.

"In Alameda County, the Sheriff's Department said they wanted to get a drone for search and rescue," Ozer said. "We later found documents that they wanted to use it for surveillance.

"Today, the San Jose Police Department may say the drone will be used to inspect bombs," she said. "But tomorrow, they may decide they want to use it to survey communities of color. That's why having a policy is important."

No public input

Most concerning, Ozer said, is that San Jose leaders did not seek public input on the purchase.

"The big picture is that the purchase of drones or other surveillance equipment shouldn't be able to fly under the community radar screen," she said.

Legislation awaiting approval in the California Senate would prevent law enforcement agencies from using drones without a warrant, except for emergency situations, traffic accidents or to inspect for "illegal vegetation."